A landmark bipartisan bill has passed the Senate to bring long-overdue regulation to college sports, aiming to curb the industry’s recent upheaval driven by rising athlete payments and unrestricted transfers. The Protect College Sports Act grants the NCAA expanded oversight of name, image, and likeness compensation while offering limited antitrust safeguards to enforce new standards. Critics argue the legislation falls short of fully addressing concerns about fairness and financial exploitation in college athletics. With the vote marking Congress’s most significant intervention yet, the measure now shifts to the House for further consideration.
College sports have been upended by athlete paymentsCritics say legislation does not go far enoughThe Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill on Monday that would regulate college sports, an attempt to end “chaos” in an industry that has been upended by skyrocketing athlete payments and near-unrestricted transfers between schools.The overwhelming 77-22 vote to pass the Protect College Sports Act is the strongest effort yet by Congress to set national regulations governing payments to college athletes for their name, image and likeness and how often they can transfer. It would give the NCAA new authority over those rules and limited antitrust protections to enforce them. Continue reading...
